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ARTIST Bill Henson's controversial photographs would be
considered "in the realm of pornography" if they were displayed in
Victoria, according to a leading criminal lawyer.

But NSW Police have not yet asked their Victorian counterparts
to help in the investigation, despite the fact that Henson lives in
Melbourne.

It is unclear whether Henson made his controversial photographs
here, but a Victoria Police spokeswoman said they would do nothing
"until NSW Police work out where the images were made". If asked to
act, they would.

Stella Stuthridge, who has defended people accused of child
pornography, said she was unaware of any defence on the basis of
artistic merit in Victoria, nor any way in which a child or parent
could consent to being part of making pornography.

It was a crime in Victoria to make any depiction of a minor "in
an indecent sexual manner or context", Ms Stuthridge said.

"If you were under 16, it would be unusual if parent or child
was able to consent to child pornography, for obvious reasons
in my experience, Victorian child porn laws have been very
strict.

"My advice to clients would be that it's simply an age issue
Everyone takes happy snaps of their naked babies, but
teenage girls taken between 10 and 16, it would be in the realm of
pornography, especially if it was open for public display."

If Henson is charged in NSW, he cannot also be charged over the
same images in Victoria.

As police pondered whether to charge Henson, others condemned
any threat of prosecution and called on senior politicians to
defend creative freedom.

Publisher Michael Heyward, who had planned to attend the launch
of Henson's exhibition before police seized images from a Sydney
gallery, said that the outcry was "completely hysterical".

"I now live in a country where we're not allowed to see the work
of one of our major artists," said Mr Heyward, head of Text
Publishing.

"It's extremely disappointing that the Prime Minister, the
Leader of the Opposition, the NSW Premier and the NSW Leader of the
Opposition have denounced his work.

"This is the moment for a senior politician to come out and say
something in defence of the principle of creative freedom in this
country. Who is going to have the courage to do that?"

Henson had his first exhibition at the National Gallery of
Victoria in 1975, aged 19. He has represented Australia at the
Venice Biennale in 1995 and his work is in many national and
international galleries and collections.

He avoided the media yesterday, with no sign of him at his
Northcote home, but Mr Heywood said he had spoken to him and that
he was "coping in his own way".

The National Gallery of Victoria, which has 94 Henson images,
including one that features a bare-chested child, has vigorously
defended his work.

"We have many of his portraits of adolescents, luminously
beautiful works that we have collected from the 1970s," deputy
director Frances Lindsay said. "These artworks represent the great
achievement of Bill Henson as an internationally acclaimed artist
regarded as one of the greatest photographers of our
time."

The Festival of Light yesterday condemned the images for
sexualising children. "NSW Police have acted properly in seizing
Bill Henson's sexualised images of naked children," said the
group's national president, David Phillips.

"Sexualised images of children invite the viewer to see a child
as a sexual object. This is wrong  regardless of how
'artistic' the image is claimed to be.

"In any case, how can a 12 or 13-year-old child give valid
consent to being photographed naked or in a suggestive pose?" Mr
Phillips said.

Bernadette McMenamin, chief executive of child protection lobby
group Childwise, said that the Henson images seized in Sydney were
probably already being circulated on pedophile internet sites.

"They are very sexualised images  the children are naked
and submissive," Ms McMenamin said. "I am pleased the police have
taken a stance."

She said art should not mask illegal or immoral sexual behaviour
with minors. She cited the acclaimed artist Donald Friend, whom she
described as a pedophile. "He wrote diaries describing his sexual
abuse of children and yet Australia still looks the other way
because he produced beautiful art."

Art or pornography?

Nuhron Raniga, 27, Balwyn NorthI have seen his artwork
before and it always makes a statement about something. It's
all about the intent of the images and if you look at them from
that point of view I would disagree that they are pornographic.

Luke Bernard, 24, business analyst, Southbank.I think
it's a good thing that he is being charged. It means we are
protecting the kids involved more than anything. I think the photos
overstep the line between art and child pornography.

Carolyn Ellul, 37, teacher, Mordialloc.I haven't seen
these photographs so it's difficult to make a judgement but there's
always a question mark over images of kids naked. Ultimately I
don't think it's necessary to have photos of naked children.

Sefton Warner, 25, lawyer, North Melbourne.I believe (the
charges) are appropriate censorship. I would question any
circumstances in which it would be acceptable to take photos of
naked children and publicly display them.

Darrel Drieberg, 58, management consultant, Melbourne.If
we look at something like this as pornography then there's an awful
lot of statues around the world that all of a sudden will need
underwear.

Donna Somerville, 48, landscaper, South Caulfield.The
images are very beautiful and interesting but being a mother
has probably influenced my opinion and it's a fine line between art
and porn.

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Artwork by Simon O'Dwyer based on an early work by controversial Melbourne photographer Bill Henson.

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